Following reports of killer whales teaching their young to attack boats in Europe, Macquarie University marine scientist, Dr Vanessa Pirotta, suggested it could be an act of revenge.

“They think in that one, an orca unfortunately had a negative interaction with a vessel, and since then, has been very upset and has decided to attack boats and with it, teaching its others and little ones to do just that,” Dr Pirotta told Ross and Russel.

Dr Pirotta also suggested it could be the result of a cultural fad, saying killer whales had been known to do things just because they find it “interesting”.

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“I say that because it might be the case that these killer whales are doing it because it’s interesting now and then they get over it, we have seen killer whales in the early 1990’s, kill salmon and then wear it on their heads like a salmon hat and then they soon got over doing that,” she said.

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